Likes and Dislikes: Hidden Keys to Your Happiness, by William S. Frank

This is an exercise to help you get a clear direction if you're confused
about your career path. Designing a new job or career is much like designing a custom home.
If you hired an architect to design your dreamhouse, they might ask you
to remember previous homes and comment on things you liked or disliked
about them. If you enjoyed having a sun porch, a walkout basement, and
an oversize pantry, you could design those features into your new place.
If you disliked a musty basement and too-small closets, you could avoid
those items in the new plan.

You may design your next job or career the same way. Think about your
past jobs, write down your likes and dislikes about each of them. Then
design a new path that incorporates your likes and avoids your dislikes.
In my own case, I like writing, publishing, and one-on-one consulting.
I want to include them in any future job. I'm less fond of interpreting
financials and spreadsheets. I'll minimize my exposure to them in the future
by having financial experts around.

How to Begin
Divide your work experience into short 3-5 year segmentsby job title,
by boss, by location, by projects, or by any other convenient method. Reason:
It's easier to remember short, specific time frames than the entire past
at once. Include volunteer work experience, and even hobby or sporting
interests, if you're considering them as career directions.

Take a separate sheet of paper for each of these time frames, and divide
the page into two columns. On the left side of the page, write down all
the things you liked about the job. On the right side, itemize the things
you disliked about the joband be as specific and detailed as possible.
It's not too helpful to say, for example, "I disliked the people."
That's much too general. It's more useful to say, "I disliked people
who were pushy and rude."

Things to Think About
Use the categories below to guide your thoughts. Since every job involves
most of these items, try to include notes and comments about each:

Boss/Top Management

The Company

Products/Services

Organizational Structure

Political Climate

Culture

Compensation/Benefits/Rewards

Duties and Responsibilities

Geography

People

Peers

Employees

Customers

Vendors/Consultants

Physical Space

Facilities

Tools and Equipment

Stress Level

Tasks/Projects/Activities

Travel

Think through each time frame carefully. Where were you? What were your
big challenges? Your big successes? Your major failures or disappointments?
How were you and your boss getting along? How did you feel about the organization?
Were you proud and happy to be working there?

This isn't a 15-minute exercise where you drain your brain once and
for all. It's a "refrigerator exercise." You tape it to the refrigerator
and make notes from time to time as you walk by. This is a "think
piece." You mull it over in your mind for several days, or even several
weeks. In general, it's better to make long detailed lists rather than
short generic ones. The more data you have, the easier you'll see trends
and patterns.

Examples
Here are a few examples of what others have written:

Liked about boss:

Affirmed and encouraged me

Recognized performance

Fostered teamwork

Objectively critiqued and coached areas for growth

Like working for someone who is focused and prioritizes effectively, versus
someone who continually changes priority from one thing to anotheror
making everything the same high priority.

Disliked about boss:

micromanaged every little detail

constant criticisms of minutiae

disliked reporting to two bosses at the same time

Liked about the work itself:

Huge variety

Being the key decision maker in the department

Making high-pressure formal presentations to board of directors

Disliked about the work:

Less able to know what was going on in an ever larger, more complex company

Lack of time and funding to improve systems as volume and complexity grew

Not having a back-up to co-create, generate new ideas

Finishing the Exercise

Review your lists and look for patterns. You might say, "I see
I've always liked working on projects alone with no outside supervision.
Therefore, I want to limit my people interaction in the future." Or
you could observe the opposite about yourself: "I've never liked working
on projects alone; I do best in a team-oriented environment."

Make extra copies of your lists and distribute them to a few trusted
family members, friends, or business acquaintances. Discuss your preferences
with others to see what insights they have. Those who know us well often
see connections we miss.

Begin to decide what you want in your next joband what you don't
want in the future. Begin to determine what you must havethese
are the absolute essentials then think about what would be fun, but perhaps
frivolous. A window view of the ocean? Three weeks of paid vacation? A
T-1 connection for access to the Internet?

People often object that this exercise is too idealistic. After all,
we can't always have everything we want. I agree that we must pay attention
to reality, but at the same time, it's important to dream a little too.
You may not incorporate all your likes into your next work assignment;
but chances are, if you have your priorities firmly in mind, you'll hit
a major home run. Next step: go to the part two of this three-part series,
the career blueprint.
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